Walking Past Windmills

• Afodi Street runs one block from MiTudela straight to Alfasi Street (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/lanes.html ). A little way along, on my right, above a hidden garden, I saw a miniature windmill, on a tower somewhat taller than an NBA player. Its vanes turned. I could not tell if they were catching a breeze or making one.
• At the top of Afodi, I turned right on Alfasi and followed it as it curved up and around to crintersect with ben Maimon. On the other side, the street name changes to ibn Ezra (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/IbnEzra.html ) Street.
• Shaded benches line the walkway in ben Maimon’s boulevard strip. Where the strip ends, I turned left on Arlosorof (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haim_Arlosoroff ), then right on Ramban where Arlosorof becomes ibn Gavirol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon_ibn_Gabirol ). Just before the (Prima) Kings Hotel, on the left, is another windmill, the size of a small house, its vanes ever stationary (http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/rehavia-windmill.html ). The Greek Orthodox Curch built this windmill and for many years ran it, until bankruptcy after the First World War caused the Patriarchate to sell the property. (The Patriarchate spent millions supporting church members who were displaced and impoverished by theat war.)
• The Windmill Hotel (a quiet, friendly place now known as the Prima Royale) on Mendele Street is three blocks from the nearest windmill, but its name is in the spirit of the neighborhood. The closest windmill to the Prima Royale is the most famous of Jerusalem's windmill's, "Montefiori's," near the King David Hotel. http://jerusalemblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/montefiores-windmill.html is about that windmill, which most tourists associate with Jerusalem. Rumors that it never worked are false.

Copyright 2007 Jane S. Fox